On Schlep
William Safire, who writes the New York Times Magazine’s weekly column, On Language, recently provided us with a brief history of the word “schlep” and its incorporation into colloquial and written English.
After being surprised at spotting the word in three different “quality” newspapers (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post), Safire embarks on a bit of research and finds that while “schlep” is used by all three as both a verb and a noun, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary only recognizes it was a verb.
He writes:
The recent embrace of schlep by The Times, Post and Journal shows that the dictionary’s incorporation of the word was a wise decision. The verb comes from the German sleppen, adopted with that meaning in the Yiddish schlepn or schlep, meaning “to drag, haul, lug.” “In Yiddish, the verb shlep is standard,” the lexicographer Sol Steinmetz, who spells the verb without the c, informs me, “with the literal meaning of ‘a pull, drag or jerk.’ Our slang meaning — ‘He’s such a shlep!’ — is an English innovation, either a figurative use of the Yiddish word or an adaption of the Yiddish shleper, meaning ‘a bum, tramp, beggar.’ The phrase ‘an ordinary shlep,’ as used in The Times, can be rendered in plain English as ‘an ordinary jerk,’ and the use of the slang phrase in the editorial seems to be an attempt to soften the serious message with a touch of New York humor.”
That Safire has a soft spot for schlep is sort of amusing, considering its Yiddish origin and the authors relation to his own Jewish heritage: born William Safir, he added an “e” and subtracted an ethnicity by adopting the more WASPy “Safire.”
Whether his approval marks a return to his roots or not, good for him for not applying his conservatism to language. Over all, an interesting, informative article. Read it here
